The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-09-10
LETTER FROM DIR. HANSON.

We see no reason why our readers should
not have it, and have therefore laid VIC
ent hands on it for publication. THE
UNIvERsALIsT readers are always pleased.
TO hear from their old friend and editor.
DR.. Hanson has the true "knack" of cor
and whenever his pen is in
hand, he runs on in a most delightful
way, whereof the following is an exam
pie. He writes now from Bridgehamptop,
T.. l., August 80.
know you will be wondering what has be-
come of me, and how l have Jared since the
good ship Etruria calculated me on my ma
tive heath.
First of all, my reception was unexpectedly
happy. Dora and her baby, and John and
Mrs. Thomas were on the wharf and vel
coined us home, so that a voyage of but lit
tie over six days was concluded by the re-
union of all the family remaining on this
side of that broader ocean, the hither shore
of which no voyager ever visits,-the
ocean that flows round the world.
A few delightful days were passed at Ford
h14ig IL VIC OObbdSO 81 VIGIL -udlubu OOu-
tent" where all the family were able to be
together, just as though they were at home.
Then three days we're passed at Good Luck,
N. j., visiting for the first time the spot
where John Murray landed and inaugurated
that renaissance of Christian truth destined
to restore the religion of Christ to the purity
of its original promulgation. OF course
ones experiences here can but be unique and
enjoyable and proftable and the days were
passed not only in the interesting meetings
of Murray Grove Association, but in seeing
the spot where the lone apostle landed, the
modest edifce in which he first lifted his
voice in advocacy of the final triumph of
God and goodness, and the lanes and roads
he trod while marshalling his forces for the
great battle he began. Let it, however, be
confessed that the fly in the apothecary's
ointment-fies rather-is the unaccountable
host of mosquitoes that fits over the sands
and through the pine woods in all that part
of the Jersey shore. Wherever 1 went, Sin
long array numerous host" the pestiferous
torments pursued, till 1 was fain to wonder
that so good man landed on such spot.
Back from New Jersey, we accepted an in
vitation to visit relatives on " Long Islands
sea-girt Shore" where we have now been sew
eral days. l must try and excite your envy by
describing the spot, for do not forget that
you are looking off on that large fresh-water
deposit that sometimes affects the manners
of the sea, as it slops against the breaKwater
along the lake front.
Long Island, you will remember, is an
chored in the ocean, off the coast of Con-
necticut, from whose shores it is separated
and is miniature Atlantic of itself. The
island is more than hundred miles long, by
several miles wide, with over a million in
habitants, mostly on the western end. All
along both coasts are bays, beaches, dunes,
forests and promontories, and the southern
side is open to the broad Atlantic. Watering
places, cottages, villas, and pleasant villages
are scattered along both shores. In the in
terror are fresh water lakes and streams,
tracts of forest and fruitful farms. Very
near the eastern end is the village of Bridge
hampton, and some two miles nearer the sea
is located a gem of a cottage with wide We
randall extending around all sides, and under
the southern am now writing. Before me
lies lovely bay four miles by two, separated
from the sea by narrow range of sand
dunes, where one can battle or sail, however
rough may be the storm-vexed seas outside.
That model of naval architecture in which
the pale-face has surpassed the red mana
Racine canoe-lies on the shore, ready at any
moment to buoy US across the waves. Back
and forth fit the yachts that are always COM
ing or going. just beyond the dunes sails
are seen, and from the windows the ocean is
visible, while the roar of the surf is heard in
the calmest days,-and when the east wind
blows, the incoming waves fill the ear with
Niagara of sound. On either hand fresh wa
ter creek flows into the bay, and thousands of
lilies whiten the waters. By day the migrat-
DRY birds halt on their southern journey, and
at night the bittern and qua bird are heard,
mingling their voices with the guitar of the
frog calling from the reeds and rushes along
the creeks. The moon is now at the full, and
it is delight to float over the waters, or
watch them from the shore, and look and
listen.
You cannot tell what happiness it is to one
who has been year and a half an exile, just
to live in his native atmosphere. Why, the
first night at Fordham even the katy dds
filed me with ecstscy, and could not sleep
for the pleasure of listening TO those "voices of
the night as they came from every tree, and
as l sit here, with all my living loved ones
together, and look at sea and shore, and in
hale the ozone of the ocean, and hear the IA
miliar sounds that fill the air, can scarcely
realize that l am once more at home; for so
it seems, although l am a thousand miles
from the grand city in which for 30 many
years l have lived and wrought.
Exactly which way l shall turn my face,
cannot yet determine. l am waiting for the
indications of Providence. Shall go East or
West? know not. All my changes of stu
alton have come to me unsought. 1 went
West against my inclination, but because
urged. 1t is likely that whatever task pre-
sents itself, and wherever it calls, / shall &C
cept and go. But just now it seems asthough
life were a play day, and all the world after
noon, and the shore of the blue bay before
me sample field and verge enough" for life's
remainder remnant. But, of course, this
mood will pass, as it ought to, and shall
once more be up and doing as of yore. Just
now, however, the sail, the bath, the drive,
the tramp, the fishing excursion, the mere
vagabondage of existence seems enough, and
one is almost willing to let the world wag as
it will.
Imust MT fail In tell vou that at Fordham